When a door of a vehicle is closed, a latch within the door mechanism engages to prevent the door from opening unintentionally. The latch often allows some movement of the door relative to the body of the vehicle. Because of this freedom of movement, the door may rattle as it is closed and the edges of the door panel may not always be aligned with the surrounding body panels.
In order to ensure the door of the vehicle is correctly aligned with the surrounding body panels and to ensure the door does not rattle as it is being closed, a bump stop can be fitted to the door or the door frame. The bump stop is often configured such that, when the door is closed and correctly aligned with the surrounding body panels, the bump stop fills the gap between the door and the door frame, preventing the door from closing any further. By restricting the movement of the door in this way, rattling of the door may be reduced.
Adjustment of the bump stop, to ensure it correctly fills the gap between the door and the door frame, is often performed by hand. The door may be opened and closed several times while the bump stop is being adjusted, until it is judged that the door is correctly aligned with the adjacent panels of the vehicle.
This process is unreliable and different results are achieved depending on the vehicle and the person adjusting the bump stop. Restricted access to the bump stop when the door is closed prevents the use of many tools or aids which might be used to allow the bump stop to be adjusted consistently.
With reference to FIG. 1, a bump stop 4 for an access door 10 of a vehicle is shown. The bump stop 4 may be coupled to the door 10 via a thread 4a on a shaft portion of the bump stop. The bump stop further comprises a stop face 4c configured to contact a door frame 12 that surrounds the door when closed. The bump stop 4 may be rotated and axially adjusted with the thread so that the stop face 4c engages the door frame 12 when the door is closed. In FIG. 1, the bump stop 4 has not been configured correctly and a gap is present between the bump stop 4 and the door frame 12. This gap may lead to the door panel being misaligned with the surrounding body panels and may allow the door to rattle when it is closed.